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General Exalted Discussion V: Our Armies are Pants

Have a question about how to make that perfect pair of pants? Want to discuss the Balorian Crusade? Infernals or Abyssals? What sort of build can throw Creation at some Shinma? Just how high can we get that Serenity's Appearence? This is your thread. Discuss with fervor.

Extra Excellencies. Generally, Solars/Abyssals get 5, Lunars get two, Sidereals 4, and Dragonblooded are 3, spread amoung caste and favored. Infernals get their caste Yozi's first Excellency free, including all future purchases of it.

[Note: Place [A]uspicious and [F]avoured (You get four) tags, for clarity.]
Total without BP/XP: 35, with at least 15 in Auspicious and Favoured.
(If using Dawn Solution rules, 4 free specialty dots)
Caste Requirements:

Spoiler

Show

The character must have at least Awareness ••, Bureaucracy ••, Linguistics (Old Realm) •, Lore •••, Martial Arts ••, Occult ••, Socialize •, Stealth • and at least one dot in Archery, Melee or Thrown. There are additional restrictions based on caste:

Re: General Exalted Discussion V: Our Armies are Pants

On an entirely other exalted topic, I always have trouble choosing a good celestial style for a sidereal who does martial arts, preferrably the close quarters punchy kind, although something with swordery is good too. Sure, I am aware of Crane Style and Crystal Chameleon (aka Disco Ninja), but the former is just not really my thing, and the latter I've already done and so wanna try something else.

Currently I'm looking at Air Dragon or Water Dragon styles, as I think they're nifty, but was wondering if any of y'all had other suggestions.

Oh, and instead of the Sidereals charmset from their manual, assume me to be using this rewrite instead.

Re: General Exalted Discussion V: Our Armies are Pants

Originally Posted by masterjoda99

On an entirely other exalted topic, I always have trouble choosing a good celestial style for a sidereal who does martial arts, preferrably the close quarters punchy kind, although something with swordery is good too. Sure, I am aware of Crane Style and Crystal Chameleon (aka Disco Ninja), but the former is just not really my thing, and the latter I've already done and so wanna try something else.

Currently I'm looking at Air Dragon or Water Dragon styles, as I think they're nifty, but was wondering if any of y'all had other suggestions.

Oh, and instead of the Sidereals charmset from their manual, assume me to be using this rewrite instead.

Re-asking this

Violet Bier of Sorrows Style is actually quite good. And with the errata it's not even totally broken.

There's no wrong way to play. - S. John Ross

Originally Posted by archaeo

Man, this is just one of those things you see and realize, "I live in a weird and banal future."

Spoiler

Show

Baiyan, God of Joy, by GryffonDurime, while the C.U.T.E Scardycat and Dreamer are by Tomb Raven.

Re: General Exalted Discussion V: Our Armies are Pants

Currently I'm looking at Air Dragon or Water Dragon styles, as I think they're nifty, but was wondering if any of y'all had other suggestions.

Throne Shadow is awesome, if you want to be all Sidereal-y. Not really a straight-up punching people style, though.

Infernal Monster is excellent for that purpose. Solar Hero is pretty good, too. Air Dragon and Water Dragon are also very good.

If you have that one Charm that lets you take TMAs for 4XP, you might want to pick up First Pulse, too.

Joy In Adversity Stance was errata'd, but VBoS is still sort of wonky. Jon Chung did a rewrite, which you can fairly safely assume is as solid as a rock.

Oh, and instead of the Sidereals charmset from their manual, assume me to be using this rewrite instead.

Looking over that rewrite, it's a pretty radical departure from standard Sidereal Charm design. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but Plague of Hats did the stellar Loom 2.0 if you want a more straightforward fix.

Re: General Exalted Discussion V: Our Armies are Pants

What is the sum total that being Enlightened grants a mortal? As far as I can see it's access to:

Terrestrial Martial Arts

Terrestrial Circle Sorcery

An enhancement to Thaumaturgy

Using artifacts/attuning to manses

Is that everything?

Originally Posted by Tavar

They're no longer considered a mortal for charm effects. This is pretty useful.

Originally Posted by Xefas

You forgot Shadowlands Circle Necromancy, for the aspiring sorcerer who would like to have less options at his disposal.

Originally Posted by golentan

You get better at fighting even without charm use.
You become employable by pretty much every faction in a favored position (you're valuable enough for exalts to keep you around and happy if not at the level of another exalt).

Originally Posted by Indon

You can no longer die spontaneously just because you made a friend who happens to be of an Exalt type that kills their mortal friends.

Anything else? I was primarily after what powers it grants. You don't suddenly get access to any Charms besides those mentioned above, do you?

Re: General Exalted Discussion V: Our Armies are Pants

If you have that one Charm that lets you take TMAs for 4XP, you might want to pick up First Pulse, too.

Wait, what charm is this? I didn't know Sidereals could do that.

Originally Posted by Kiero

Anything else? I was primarily after what powers it grants. You don't suddenly get access to any Charms besides those mentioned above, do you?

No, not unless you are a god blooded of some sort. And to learn Terrestrial Martial Arts or Sorcery Charms you need to be at least essence 3, so your Essence 2 enlightened mortal doesn't get to play with much.

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
--Will S.

Re: General Exalted Discussion V: Our Armies are Pants

Originally Posted by Mr.Bookworm

Looking over that rewrite, it's a pretty radical departure from standard Sidereal Charm design. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but Plague of Hats did the stellarLoom 2.0 if you want a more straightforward fix.

Re: General Exalted Discussion V: Our Armies are Pants

Originally Posted by masterjoda99;

Oh, and instead of the Sidereals charmset from their manual, assume me to be using this rewrite instead.

Re-asking this

I've never liked that rewrite, it's always seemed like most of the Charms in that hardly ever work, only applying to certain specific circumstances. It's made even worse by the fact that you have to rebuy each Charm to open its area of influence slightly. I agree that Plague_of_Hats' is much better. Although, to be fair, I've never seen either of them in play, so this is just the impression I get from reading them.

Originally Posted by Kylarra

Your 10s double now, which is a pretty big bonus for things.

All heroic mortals double 10s, you don't need to be enlightened to do that.

Last edited by IcarusWings; 2011-05-18 at 03:10 PM.

You gotta' let me know, are we human,
Or are we dancers?
My signs are vital, my hands are cold,
And I'm on my knees, begging for the answer,
Are we human, or are we dancers?
- Human, The Killers

Re: General Exalted Discussion V: Our Armies are Pants

Speaking of mortals, what're your thoughts on "normal mortals". I've heard of the stance that you can be either a heroic mortal or an extra, but I think you can be either a heroic mortal, a normal mortal, or an extra.

Re: General Exalted Discussion V: Our Armies are Pants

Originally Posted by Weimann

Speaking of mortals, what're your thoughts on "normal mortals". I've heard of the stance that you can be either a heroic mortal or an extra, but I think you can be either a heroic mortal, a normal mortal, or an extra.

Opinions?

The rules lay out guidelines for heroic mortals and ordinary mortals. They also have the guidelines for Extras, which are like a template, able to be laid on top of any type of being to produce stuff that dies in one hit. So you can have Extra ghosts, Extra gods, Extra demons, and Extra mortals.

Re: General Exalted Discussion V: Our Armies are Pants

So, I'm thinking about putting together a Solar martial artist for a game I'm playing in that currently has too many inter-party conflicts - In a nutshell, the roughly Chaotic neutral sorceress (me) is getting into waaay too many arguments with the VERY Paladin-ish Dawn caste. Sorry about the D&D terms, I really am, but for the example, it works.

Anyways, I'm thinking about putting together a probably Night Caste proficient in Solar Hero Style, with a fair amount of athletics charms on top of that. Want to get into the area of God-Speed Steps, with the idea of a martial artist who is just blazing fast, his style being to hit a single enemy from multiple directions nigh-simultaneously.

Personality probably pretty curt, to the point. Not non-talkative, because that's boring to play, but he doesn't take crap from people.

Not many details about this character besides that are set in stone yet.

Anyways, I'm looking for a suitably awesome motivation, and was hoping you lot would help me out with some suggestions. What do you think?

Originally Posted by Grifter, character in game I'm GMing

I was fine in Kingsfort until I met you guys. This looking for immortality thing is gonna get me killed!

Re: General Exalted Discussion V: Our Armies are Pants

Originally Posted by DragonSinged

So, I'm thinking about putting together a Solar martial artist for a game I'm playing in that currently has too many inter-party conflicts - In a nutshell, the roughly Chaotic neutral sorceress (me) is getting into waaay too many arguments with the VERY Paladin-ish Dawn caste. Sorry about the D&D terms, I really am, but for the example, it works.

Is the in-character conflict spilling into out-of-character, or taking away from the fun of the game? I mean, there's not really a problem, otherwise.

Anyways, I'm thinking about putting together a probably Night Caste proficient in Solar Hero Style, with a fair amount of athletics charms on top of that. Want to get into the area of God-Speed Steps, with the idea of a martial artist who is just blazing fast, his style being to hit a single enemy from multiple directions nigh-simultaneously.

Re: General Exalted Discussion V: Our Armies are Pants

Originally Posted by DragonSinged

So, I'm thinking about putting together a Solar martial artist for a game I'm playing in that currently has too many inter-party conflicts - In a nutshell, the roughly Chaotic neutral sorceress (me) is getting into waaay too many arguments with the VERY Paladin-ish Dawn caste. Sorry about the D&D terms, I really am, but for the example, it works.

Anyways, I'm thinking about putting together a probably Night Caste proficient in Solar Hero Style, with a fair amount of athletics charms on top of that. Want to get into the area of God-Speed Steps, with the idea of a martial artist who is just blazing fast, his style being to hit a single enemy from multiple directions nigh-simultaneously.

Personality probably pretty curt, to the point. Not non-talkative, because that's boring to play, but he doesn't take crap from people.

Not many details about this character besides that are set in stone yet.

Anyways, I'm looking for a suitably awesome motivation, and was hoping you lot would help me out with some suggestions. What do you think?

"Be the fastest man alive" maybe? Note for this to be properly heroic you must have a very broad view of the word 'man'. For instance it should not be gender specific, nor should it limit your competition to just humans. Because a race between your Solar and Adorjan should happen at some point in the game.

Re: General Exalted Discussion V: Our Armies are Pants

Originally Posted by Sanguine

"Be the fastest man alive" maybe? Note for this to be properly heroic you must have a very broad view of the word 'man'. For instance it should not be gender specific, nor should it limit your competition to just humans. Because a race between your Solar and Adorjan should happen at some point in the game.

Which you'll probably lose because Adorjan has the best "go fast" charms in the game, pretty much.

Unless you take Principle Emulation of Adorjan and take those charms and stack them with, say, Disco Ninja Style charms...

Just be warned that if you beat her she might fall in love with you.

Last edited by Yuki Akuma; 2011-05-18 at 06:48 PM.

There's no wrong way to play. - S. John Ross

Originally Posted by archaeo

Man, this is just one of those things you see and realize, "I live in a weird and banal future."

Spoiler

Show

Baiyan, God of Joy, by GryffonDurime, while the C.U.T.E Scardycat and Dreamer are by Tomb Raven.

Re: General Exalted Discussion V: Our Armies are Pants

@Mr.Bookworm, Sanguine, Yuki Akuma
The problem with the conflicts is mainly that they tend to take up entire sessions, and make the game far too stressful. If it were just a character thing, it would be fine, but it is definitely making the game less fun.
As far as the fast martial arts thing, I was thinking of conveying it mostly through stunting and the addition of athletics charms, but I will definitely take a look at the martial arts you mentioned, though, I'm still a little uncertain on how learning various martial arts works - They are an exception to the whole "Only Eclipse Caste's can learn other creature's charms" things, yeah? So how does that work with experience costs and the like?
And, sorry, I didn't mean to leave out details of personality, it's mainly that I'm still working on it, which is part of where his motivation will come in.
I wasn't really thinking of defining his motivation based on the fact that he's fast and a martial artist - Motivations like "Be the fastest" or "Be the strongest" or "Kill that one guy - he's a ****" seem kind of boring and generic to me. We can be more awesome than that, yeah? Yeah!

So I'm still working on whether his personality contains things like "A soft spot for adorable puppies" or "Avoids throwing mortals over the horizon if it is not absolutely necessary" or whatever. He probably doesn't actually have any problems with punching people into a fine red mist, but likewise is alright with avoiding such if in the company of people who would find that distasteful.

On a somewhat related note, are there any martial arts styles that would allow the user to wear Celestial Battle Armor?

EDIT: Maybe I should wait to discuss this character until I've solidified more details about him, I just thought discussing him might help me with that process. = P So I apologize if I'm sounding frustratingly vague or neutral so far, no offense meant.

EDIT THE SECOND: Hmm, maybe something like, "Vain has found that he is thoroughly disgusted with the state of affairs in Creation during the Second Age, and has judged that the root of this problem is the rampant corruption and disorganization in Yu-Shan. Thus, he has vowed to use his might to restore some semblance of order and efficiency to Yu-Shan."

Last edited by DragonSinged; 2011-05-18 at 07:23 PM.

Originally Posted by Grifter, character in game I'm GMing

I was fine in Kingsfort until I met you guys. This looking for immortality thing is gonna get me killed!

Re: General Exalted Discussion V: Our Armies are Pants

Originally Posted by DragonSinged

The problem with the conflicts is mainly that they tend to take up entire sessions, and make the game far too stressful. If it were just a character thing, it would be fine, but it is definitely making the game less fun.

Ah. Something needs to change then, yeah.

As far as the fast martial arts thing, I was thinking of conveying it mostly through stunting and the addition of athletics charms, but I will definitely take a look at the martial arts you mentioned, though, I'm still a little uncertain on how learning various martial arts works - They are an exception to the whole "Only Eclipse Caste's can learn other creature's charms" things, yeah? So how does that work with experience costs and the like?

Yes. Martial Arts are their own independent subsystem, sort of similar to sorcery.

You can learn Martial Art Charms for the same cost as Favored Charms if you have MA Favored or as a Caste ability.

And, sorry, I didn't mean to leave out details of personality, it's mainly that I'm still working on it, which is part of where his motivation will come in.
I wasn't really thinking of defining his motivation based on the fact that he's fast and a martial artist - Motivations like "Be the fastest" or "Be the strongest" or "Kill that one guy - he's a ****" seem kind of boring and generic to me. We can be more awesome than that, yeah? Yeah!

It's fine. But yes, be better then that, unless it's fitting in with the character.

On a somewhat related note, are there any martial arts styles that would allow the user to wear Celestial Battle Armor?

Not many. Would need to check further.

EDIT: Maybe I should wait to discuss this character until I've solidified more details about him, I just thought discussing him might help me with that process. = P So I apologize if I'm sounding frustratingly vague or neutral so far, no offense meant.

No, no, it's fine. I was just saying that it's impossible to tell what a character's Motivation should be with just hearing what's in the Concept box.

Re: General Exalted Discussion V: Our Armies are Pants

So, question time. Imagine that Warstriders were much more common/easier to make, and that it was easier for mortals to attune to them. Now, units made up of these are still special, and should get some kind of distinction for it, like unique names. Problem is, I'm horrible at names. So, suggestions for names? The unit size is about a fang, so around 5-10 'striders.

Last edited by Tavar; 2011-05-18 at 09:49 PM.

He fears his fate too much, and his reward is small, who will not put it to the touch, to win or lose it all.
-James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose
Satomi by Elagune

Re: General Exalted Discussion V: Our Armies are Pants

Originally Posted by Tavar

So, question time. Imagine that Warstriders were much more common/easier to make, and that it was easier for mortals to attune to them. Now, units made up of these are still special, and should get some kind of distinction for it, like unique names. Problem is, I'm horrible at names. So, suggestions for names? The unit size is about a fang, so around 5-10 'striders.

Re: General Exalted Discussion V: Our Armies are Pants

No, that's just the nomenclature for units in creation. A fang is about equivalent in size to a Squad. The full chart is on page 159 of exalted. It goes Fang, Scale, Talon, wing, Dragon. Two unnamed categories, and then legion/first age legion. They don't have anything to do with actual unit names or anything.

He fears his fate too much, and his reward is small, who will not put it to the touch, to win or lose it all.
-James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose
Satomi by Elagune

Re: General Exalted Discussion V: Our Armies are Pants

Something like this?

A unit of 500 warstriders is a lung.
These are broken up into five units of 100 called suspires.
These are broken up into two units of 50 called flames.
Each flame is divided into five units of ten called sparks.
Each unit of ten is divided into two units of five called cinders.

Re: General Exalted Discussion V: Our Armies are Pants

Oh, no. Not official names for the units like that. I meant more like, well, like fighter pilots. Individual squadons often have unique names. Like, rogue squadron, or wraith squadron. Or the list here.

He fears his fate too much, and his reward is small, who will not put it to the touch, to win or lose it all.
-James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose
Satomi by Elagune